Games Nest

ALAN WAKE

For XBOX 360 From Remedy

When it was first announced back in 2001, Alan Wake seemed like a ground breaking game. But when it came out in 2010 it had undergone many changes. Is the final game a ground breaking one? Let’s find out…

Alan Wake, a famous best - selling author, visits the resort town of Bright Falls with his wife Alice, seeking relax from the stress of work. Settling down at “Bird Leg Cabin”, Alice gives Alan a typewriter to help him overcome his stress and write a new book. Alan gets mad at her and runs out leaving the nyctophobic Alice alone in the cabin. Lights black out, a scream echoes in the night and Alice finds herself dragged down the lake nearby by a mysterious force, with Alan diving after her. One week later Alan wakes up in his crashed car without being able to remember anything from the previous week. In a desperate search for Alice, Alan will face the mysterious force that took his wife, a terrifying dark presence. His agent Barry Wheeler along with some of the townsfolk will aid Wake in his search, offering assistance that will often prove lifesaving. Wake will also be aided by Thomas Zane who knows the secrets of the dark presence. Zane will put manuscript pages on Wakes way, pages written by Wake without him remembering writing them, pages which foretell the nightmares Alan encounters during his search… Finally Wake, with the secret of the dark presence revealed to him, will make his final stand against its core and attempt to save Alice. Will he make it? I don’t want to spoil anything so I won’t reveal this, but the ending holds some questions. Luckily, Remedy released two DLCs that provide some answers. If you want to understand the whole story, you’d better download them both. For more details, you can also read the “Alan Wake” novel by Rick Burroughs.

The gameplay is amazing! Perhaps one of the best of it’s kind. It is unique and it adds to the game atmosphere (which is great by the way). The combat sequences are filled with agony. The dark presnce, devours the local townsfolk, crows and even inanimate objects (the "Taken") and turns everything against Wake. To survive, Alan has at his disposal revolvers, shotguns and hunting rifles. But bullets alone are no good against the Taken. In order to despose them, Wake must first "burn away" the darkness engulfing them. His trusty flashlight along with flares, are the tools he can count on to do so. Furthermore, he -in order to raise his chances of survival- must find any extra light source (light generators, street lamps etc.) so that he can keep away the forces of darkness when fighting is not a good idea. Exploring Bright Falls to find them is a frightening experience, which will make you keep the lights on and the desire to keep up with the story bind together a magnificent game. Furthermore there are parts of the game in which you can drive cars and the game is sandbox (kind of), giving you the ability to explore huge areas (something rarely seen in horror games) Of course this means that a lot of hidden objects and side quests are present in the game. But which gameplay is good at its own? The controls of the game are excellent making the gameplay run smoothly… You may find them a bit strange at first but you‘ll get used to them before you can even realize it.

On the grounds of graphics, the game is stunning! It really pushes the 360 processor to its very limits. Every single detail (from a stone in the ground to the scars in Wake’s face) are beautifully presented although are some of the characters are badly animated. Still, the graphics are some of the best in the Xbox 360 console. The soundtrack is also magnificent! Apart from the game score -which is chilling, matching perfectly the game atmosphere- Alan Wake also features some songs from famous artists like Poe, Poets of the Fall and David Bowie. Especially Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, playing during the end credits, is one of the best and most moving moments in the entire gaming history. Finally, we have a beautiful voice acting and a wide variety of interesting (and surprisingly funny at times) spoken dialogues.

But nothing is perfect and Alan Wake is no exception. The story is a bit confusing especially if you play through the game for the first time, the environments are beautiful but kind of repetitive (the forest and the logging areas are seen again and again) and as I told before, some face animations are bad.

So is it a ground breaking game? Perhaps no, but it’s a magnificent one in general! A unique moving and scary game (as the box warns, it’s indeed a psychological action thriller)! If you are a fan of horror games then maybe you will feel that this is the best game you‘ve ever played. If, on the other hand, you are not, then you will at least feel that the money and time you’ve spent were worth it!

J.P.

DLC(s); The Signal, The Writer

For the 2001 game trailer look here;